


disquietude in the throne room

by daisy_chains



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Episode: s05e03 The Death Song of Uther Pendragon, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Bad At Tagging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 11:45:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14472087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisy_chains/pseuds/daisy_chains
Summary: Merlin is afraid.





	disquietude in the throne room

Merlin is afraid. It isn’t as if he’s never been afraid before, of course. Between fighting an immortal army and facing the Dorocha and being stung by a serket and however many other terrifying situations, he’s come to know fear, and that’s not even taking the constant threat of death due to how he was born into consideration.

Now though, now he stands in the throne room unable to meet a dead man’s gaze in the wake of revealing his magic to the one person he fears most in this world.

“You have magic,” the words are spoken softly, but they make everything oh-so final. Fear and hatred and anger and grief all bubble up in his chest until they erupt in a shout.

“I was born with it!” Merlin glares at the ghost, tears blurring his vision.

“I made you Arthur's servant. You are a sorcerer?” 

Maybe it’s petty to take such vindictive delight in the emotions warring in the dead man’s hollow gaze, but he can’t bring himself to feel otherwise, nor can he stop himself from pushing just a bit farther when he knows it would be better to stay quiet for once in his life. “Even while you were King, there was magic at the heart of Camelot.”

“I will not allow you and your kind to poison my kingdom,” the former king says as he stalks towards the serving boy.

“You're wrong. You're wrong,” Merlin says, voice trembling as he barely refrains from backing away from the approaching figure in terror. The ghost halts, staring at the warlock in shock that he dares to say such things, but Merlin is beyond caring. “About so much. Arthur is a better, and more worthy king than you ever were.”

Then Uther Pendragon roars, his anger overcoming him, and the warlock can do little but summon his magic and _push_. His magic reacts instinctively, as if it senses its wielder’s fear and lack of control or direction besides the fact that it should be towards the ghost. But Emrys _is_ magic, and magic remembers the face of the man who caused it so much anguish, so it needs little instruction. 

Magic reacts, but Merlin stands at the foot of the throne, trembling.

**Author's Note:**

> The dialogue is all taken from the transcript on the Merlin wiki.  
> I was rewatching this episode and got very emotional so this happened. I had to have watched this scene at least a dozen times while writing this.


End file.
